Flight status

Check status via the Trip.com flight status page, airline apps, or airport websites — the night before and again on departure morning.

Pick an airline for its status page:

Four sources cover it: platform status pages (all airlines, alerts), airline apps (fastest data, gate pushes), airport sites (most accurate counters/gates), and pro tools like Flightradar24 (live position, historical punctuality). Cross-check two sources for critical trips. Search by flight number (e.g. CA1501) rather than route to avoid ambiguity, and always track the operating flight number on codeshares.

The best early indicator is the inbound aircraft: if your plane's previous sector is late, your departure almost certainly follows — status pages show this at least an hour before airport screens react.

Delays accumulate through the day, so book morning departures for critical trips. June–September thunderstorms and flow control make evenings at Pudong, Baiyun and Beijing the highest-risk slots; a midday flight at the same price is usually the better pick.

Carrier-caused cancellations rebook or refund free, with meals and hotels typically provided beyond 4 hours' delay on mainland carriers; weather and ATC events still allow free rebooking but without accommodation. Rebook the moment news lands — seats on the same route go first-come — and the app queue beats the counter queue.

Keep screenshots of change notifications (evidence for claims), and note delay insurance usually requires 2–4 hours plus an airline-issued delay certificate, obtainable in-app or at the counter.

Meeting someone? Watch the live ETA, not the departure delay — en-route updates track actual position. Connecting: allow 1.5 hours domestic-to-domestic minimum, 3 hours to international; if an inbound delay eats your buffer, contact ground staff before landing to arrange a fast-track transfer.